A TREATY WITH LOUIS XI The next day Castleman and I were called to the castle, and talked over the situation with the duchess and the Princess Mary.

In the midst of our council, in walked Hymbercourt and Hugonet.

They were devoted friends of Mary.
Our first move was to send spies to the court of France; so two trusted men started at once.

Paris was but thirty leagues distant, and the men could reach it in fifteen hours.

Half a day there should enable them to learn the true condition of affairs, since they carried well-filled purses to loosen the tongues of Cardinal Balau and Oliver the Barber.
The bribery plan was Mary's, and it worked admirably.
Within forty-eight hours the spies returned, and reported that King Louis, with a small army, was within fifteen leagues of Peronne.